Cultural references
The following is a list of references made to popular culture in Parker Lot. Like most comics, Parker Lot features references to several aspects of popular culture, including television, music, comics, film, and pop art. Several references can be pointed out through the comics, promotional art, or other drawings posted on the websites BuddyComics is on. Television and film A drawing parodying an episode of The Simpsons, "Pokey Mom" where Homer Simpson is skiing was drawn. In a character costume sketch, Matt is drawn in a way similar to Bart Simpson and Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, is mentioned. More Simpsons references included "scary names" similar to the Treehouse of Horror series which air usually near Halloween, as The Parker Lot Halloween Special was posted. Some of the style of Parker Lot was inspired by The Simpsons, based on humor which can be evidenced by the Halloween Special. A whole drawing was made for the twentieth anniversary of the show with many of the characters of Parker Lot dressed and looking similar to the characters in The Simpsons. In one comic, the four play baseball and Matt hits a "Homer"; actually, just hitting Homer Simpson in the head. Two drawings of Matt as goth and a pirate are inspired mainly by the animated series, South Park. The design of Matt's superhero alias, Captain Obvious is inspired mostly by Mysterion from the South Park episode, "The Coon." BuddyComics also claims the the inspiration for Matt Parker's full name comes from the two creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. A character costume sketch featured Matt in a bunny costume as similar to the film, "A Christmas Story." In Jim and Robby's Excellent Adventure, Scooter has a time machine called TURDIS, which is a parody of Doctor Who's TARDIS. The plot of the arc is an exact retelling of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. The ships in the future part of the story are also inspired by Futurama and The Jetsons, two cartoons set in the future. Jim is crushed by an anvil as similar to the Looney Tunes cartoons made by Hanna-Barbera era of animation. Jim also performs the famous spit take of spitting coffee in one's face, as popularized by Danny Thomas, a comedian. In a drawing, a reference was made featuring the show Chowder's title character in a thought bubble and is dancing. The same costume sketch featured a reference to Teletubbies with Matt as the red Teletubbie. The relationship between Jim and his bike is similar to the relationship between Kevin and his bike from Ed, Edd, n Eddy, mainly from the movie, Ed, Edd, n Eddy's Big Picture Show. The Whales are similar to Bubby from the cartoon, "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack". A comic referenced the giant foot in "Monty Python" by it stepping on Jim. as Edna Krabappel, Principal Fredericks as Principal Skinner, Jim as Nelson Muntz, Scooter Williams as Milhouse Van Houten, Joe Mama as Martin Prince, Bully as Kearney, Robby the Robot as Bender from Futurama, BuddyComics as Matt Groening, and Baby as Maggie Simpson in The Simpsons' 20th Anniversary drawing]] Music The Beatles are BuddyComics' favorite band of all time, so he had to make references to the popular band. The original name of the school, Billy Shears Junior High School, was named after the fictional leader of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was said to be the replacement of Paul McCartney, according to the "Paul is dead" hoax. The main characters of Parker Lot, Matt Parker, Jim, Scooter Williams, and Robby the Robot act out the cover of the 1969 album, "Abbey Road". This drawing for made as a tribute for the fourtieth anniversary of the album itself. Another drawing was made featuring all four characters dressed as the Beatles in their Sgt. Pepper's-era costumes. In the original promo for The Parker Lot Halloween Special, Matt is seen dressed as Michael Jackson in the music video of the song, "Thriller", from the album of the same name. Another drawing inspired by the Beatles, featured Matt as John Lennon, Scooter as Ringo Starr, Jim as Paul McCartney, and Robby as George Harrison, in the same lineup as the Abbey Road drawing, in a tribute to Yellow Submarine, around the time of its 41st anniversary and featured Mrs. Scald as a Blue Meanie and Joe Mama as the Nowhere Man. BuddyComics and Wally Parker were included as well. Other references Comics and cartoons In one drawing, which was a fan art for the creator of Jerk Wadz, a fellow DrunkDuck-deviantART webcomic, featured Jim dressed as Ryan, the lead character from the comic. In the character costume sketch, Matt is drawn as The Joker from Batman, although he mostly resembles the movie version of him played by Heath Ledger in the movie, "The Dark Knight." One drawing made for Halloween as a tribute to Charles Schulz's comic, Peanuts, was made and it was based mainly on the television special, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", featuring Jim as Linus van Pelt and Matt as Charlie Brown. BuddyComics sometimes makes art trades for other artists or cartoonists like him and he even made one for a series of webcomics called "Jerk Wadz", "McEven's Times", and "Neil and Ryan." In the end of Matt on the Moon, Desmond the Moon Bear is seen. Video games Matt is seen playing Guitar Hero in one comic when his father tells him to play outside to which he takes as to going outside and playing Guitar Hero. For a collab for a deviantART group, called Amateur Cartoonists, which BuddyComics is a member of, BuddyComics added an entry to a Mario Kart collab featuring his characters in a simulation of a Mario Kart race which Scooter driving a Robby-based car, Matt a regular Mario Kart vehicle with his colors and initials on it, and Jim on a simple scooter. Another drawing was made for a request featuring the main cast (Matt, Jim, Scooter) playing Rock Band, similar to Guitar Hero, with Scooter on drums, Jim on guitar, and Matt reluctantly on vocals. In one comic, Jim is standing in a Mario background and he jumps through a pipe, only to land in Joe Mama's bathroom. Matt is seen with a Wii playing a fictional game called "Wii Bar Fight", which satires the many sports games for the Wii in another comic. Politics and history A poster of Matt was made to parody the Obama poster which featured Barack Obama with American colors and the title, "Hope". The parody poster with Matt included instead had Matt featured and said "Nope." In Matt on the Moon, Matt, Jim, and Scooter are shot into space by accident, which references the incidents in Apollo 1 and Neil Armstrong is referenced when Scooter notices his signature on the Moon. The Constructoids also mention the reason the Apollo mission was started was to find their species on the Moon. In Jim and Robby's Excellent Adventure, Jim and Robby see and meet Abraham Lincoln, a soldier from the south, and a dinosaur, which crushes Jim. Art A baby paints a perfect Mona Lisa, just like the painting Leonardo da Vinci made in the 16th century. The title of The Birth of Matt is a direct reference to the painting, The Birth of Venus. See also *Parker Lot External links *http://www.buddycomics.deviantart.com/gallery/ *http://parkerlot.deviantart.com/gallery/